Culturally speaking for June 5, 2011

River Road entries sought; painting parties available

The deadline for entries is Sept. 16 for the Louisiana Art and Artists’ Guild’s 42nd annual River Road Show, set for Dec. 5-Jan. 27 at the Louisiana State Archives, 3851 Essen Lane.

The fee is $40 for three entries and $5 for each additional entry up to 10. Artists must be age 18 or older. This is a national juried competition, and cash prizes are given to winners. For more information, call (225) 485-8884 or email laagbr@laag-site.org.

Registration is open for Short Swim & Paint Camp at Look Studios & Gallery, 2913 Lydia Ave., Mondays through Wednesdays, June 6-8, for students in the ninth through 12th grades, and June 13-15 for the first through fourth grades. The fee is $25 per student. Registration also is open for Bottoms Up painting parties in June, along with regular art classes. For reservations or more information, call (225) 268-2994.

The Arts Council of Livingston Parish will host “Imagine That ? Art Fun Day for Kids” from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 11, in its gallery, 133 N. Hummell St., Denham Springs.

The event will feature an exhibit of children’s book illustrations by artist Paulette Ferguson, who also is the Arts Council’s featured artist for June. Children also will be given one-on-one time with the artist. The exhibit will run through June 30. For more information, call (225) 664-1168.

The seminar “Heirloom Plants and Flowers” will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 11, in the Conference Room at Rosedown Plantation State Historic Site, 12501 La. 10, St. Francisville. For more information, call (225) 635-3110.

The exhibit Barefoot Life, featuring modern folk art by Paul Schexnayder, will open with a reception from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, June 11, and will run through July 2 at the Acadiana Center for the Arts, 101 W. Vermilion St., Lafayette. Also featured will be the exhibit Barefoot America, featuring paintings of each of the 50 states in the United States. For more information, call (337) 233-7060.

Summer classes set

Registration is open for several summer arts intensives for students ages 13-16 at the Acadiana Center for the Arts, 101 W. Vermilion St., Lafayette:

•Tuesday-Friday, June 7-10, Film and Theatre.

•Tuesday-Friday, June 14-17, Graphic Design.

•Tuesday-Friday, June 14-17, Dance.

•Tuesday-Friday, June 21-24, Storyboarding.

Also, registration is open for summer art studios for students ages 6-12:

•Monday-Friday, June 13-17, Art in Nature: Painting.

•Monday-Friday, June 13-17, Art in Nature: Drawing.

•Tuesday-Friday, July 5-8, Passport to the Arts.

•Tuesday-Thursday, Aug. 2-4, The Music in You.

To register or for more information, call (337) 233-7060.

JPAS auditions

The Jefferson Performing Arts Society will conduct auditions for its 34th season Friday through Sunday, June 10-12, at the Jefferson Performing Arts Center, 400 Phlox St., Metairie.

Singers, dancers and actors of all ethnicities, age 17 and older, are needed. Auditions are by appointment only, and those auditioning are required to submit an audition form and current headshot by email prior to the audition. Productions in the season’s lineup are Fiddler on the Roof, A Night of Opera and Broadway, Sunset Boulevard, Hairspray, The Bikinis, Flanagan’s Wake, The Light in the Piazza, Xanadu, Petite Rouge and How I Became a Pirate. For more information, call (504) 885-2000, extension 204. Audition forms are available by visiting the website below.

Tickets are on sale for a production of William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, set for 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, June 9-11, June 16-18 and June 28-25, in the Lupin Theatre on the Tulane University campus in New Orleans. Sunday matinees are at 1:30 p.m. June 12 and June 19.

The production is part of the New Orleans Shakespeare Festival at Tulane and is set in 1930s America with charismatic politicians, backroom politics and people struggling with poverty. For tickets or more information, call (504) 865-5106.

Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, 400a Julia St., New Orleans, is showing the exhibits Newly Released Works by Sidonie Villere, Wrong Sounding Stories by Adam Mysock and Eternal Moment: New Drawings on Mylar and Fresco Works by Japanese artist Reiko Fujinami. Gallery hours are from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. For more information, call (504) 522-5471 or email info@jonathanferraragallery.com.